Kerala Congress (B) supremo R Balakrishna Pillai has been admitted to a private hospital in Kottarakkara of Kollam district owing to respiratory issues. According to another KC (B) leader, the 86-year-old Pillai, who was admitted to the hospital on April 28 evening, is on ventilator support.
"He had been suffering from respiratory issues for a while and had been admitted to the hospital on Wednesday evening," Shaju A, a leader of the KC(B) told TNM. Shaju is the chairperson of the Kottarakkara Municipality.
Balakrishna Pillai is a prominent figure in Kerala politics who won from the Kottarakkara Assembly constituency consecutively from 1977 to 2006. He was elected to the Assembly for the first time in 1960 from Pathanapuram, a neighbouring constituency of Kottarakkara. Later, he won from Kottarakkara in 1965. Balakrishna Pillai also won in 1970, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1996, and in the 2001 elections. In the late 70s and early 80s, elections were held prior to completing five years because of unstable governments that didn't last their full term.
In 2006, CPI (M)'s Aisha Potty won from Kottarakkara, and that in fact marked the end of Pillai's active political career. Pillai hadn't contested in elections after that. Aisha Potty won consecutively till 2016.
As a minister, Pillai has held various portfolios such as Transport and Power.
His son, KB Ganesh Kumar is a movie actor turned politician. Ganesh Kumar is the MLA representing the Pathanapuram constituency since 2001. He was the minister of Transport in the AK Antony government in 2001 but stepped down in 2003, paving the way for his father's entry into the cabinet.
The party was allowed only one ministerial berth by the United Democratic Front led by the Congress, in which KC(B) was an ally. The KC(B) formally joined the Left Democratic Front led by the CPI(M) in December 2018.